Nvidia investors look to D.C. ‘Super Bowl’ to juice sluggish stock

The event, featuring a keynote speech by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, “will convene government leaders, industry representatives, leading researchers, developers and academia for timely conversations on AI innovation and the United States’ role in the global AI landscape." Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images/Postmedia files

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After years of leading the stock market, Nvidia Corp.’s wild rally took a break over the summer. Now Wall Street is looking for some D.C. magic to get the shares running again.

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The chip giant’s three-day artificial intelligence conference called “GTC” began Monday in the United States capital, and all eyes will be glued to the keynote address by chief executive Jensen Huang scheduled for midday Tuesday. While GTC events have been held in Washington before, this is the first one to feature a keynote from the CEO. And some investing pros see the location as significant.

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“GTC is sort of the AI Super Bowl,” said Gerry Sparrow, who oversees about US$120 million as chief investment officer of the Sparrow Growth Fund, which owns Nvidia shares. “The fact that it’s in D.C. could be foreshadowing that something good will be announced.”

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On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said he wants to congratulate Huang, although it was not immediately clear if this was for anything specific. Speaking during remarks to business leaders in Tokyo, he also said he will meet with the Nvidia CEO tomorrow. Shares of Nvidia moved higher, rising 0.5 per cent before the opening bell.

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Not too long ago, a catalyst was the last thing Nvidia shares needed, as AI fever captured the market and placed the chipmaker at the centre of the boom. The stock has been among the best performers in the S&P 500 Index in every year since 2022, and this year it was up 32 per cent through the end of July. But since then it has gone from a sprint to a jog, rising 7.7 per cent while the rest of the chip industry races ahead, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping 28 per cent, as of its last close.

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Intel Corp. has been the big winner in the last three months, soaring more than 100 per cent on the strength of a massive capital infusion that includes US$8.9 billion from the White House in return for a 10 per cent stake in the company. The shares were down roughly one per cent through July this year. AI rivals Broadcom Inc., Applied Materials Inc. and Arm Holdings PLC are also far outpacing Nvidia since the start of August. And on Monday, Qualcomm Inc. climbed 11 per cent, reaching its highest level since July 2024, after unveiling AI chips aimed at challenging Nvidia.

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China has been a major overhang for Nvidia. In August, the company and AMD agreed to a controversial deal that gives the U.S. government 15 per cent of their revenues from Chinese AI chip sales. Over time, greater access to the Chinese market could add 10 per cent to Nvidia’s roughly US$4.7 trillion market capitalization, according to Sparrow. So with President Donald Trump in Asia this week and scheduled to meet with China President Xi Jinping on Thursday, investors are looking for something that will galvanize the stock again.